


Sands of Time

by ami_ven



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Community: mcsheplets, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-26
Updated: 2018-02-26
Packaged: 2019-03-24 07:07:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13806045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ami_ven/pseuds/ami_ven
Summary: “You promised you’d relax and be surprised.”





	Sands of Time

**Author's Note:**

> Written for LJ community "mcsheplets" prompt #274 "whole new world"

As the wormhole disengaged behind them, the Marine on duty saluted. “Colonel, Doctor, welcome to P1X-9951.”

“At ease, sergeant,” said John, easily. “This is unofficial, remember?”

He and Rodney were both in their uniforms, but without jackets or tac vests, unarmed except for the gun, unloaded and tucked into John’s duffel bag.

Sergeant Nieves smiled. “Yes, sir.”

“Scientists all behaving themselves?” John asked.

“So far, sir,” she replied. “Doc Parrish is like a kid in a candy store, all these plants and stuff, but he’s been good about limiting how many live samples he takes back to Atlantis.”

“Good, good,” said John. “And the equipment I requested?”

Her smiled widened. “Ready and waiting for you, sir.”

“Equipment?” repeated Rodney. “You wouldn’t let _me_ bring any equipment! You wouldn’t even know what kind of—”

“Rodney,” John interrupted, with fond exasperation. “This is a surprise. You promised you’d relax and be surprised.”

“I did no such thing,” Rodney grumped, which was an outright lie.

Nieves smiled at him, too. “It’s about twenty minutes through the jungle, sirs, and the trail is marked. We promise not to contact you unless there’s an emergency.”

John nodded and slid on his sunglasses. “I appreciate that, sergeant. C’mon, McKay.”

He started off down the well-marked path, mentally counting the seconds until Rodney would start to catch up with him and grinning when he heard the crunch of footsteps behind him, right on cue.

“You can at least give me a _hint_ , Sheppard,” demanded Rodney.

“Nope,” said John. 

Rodney continued to question him for the entire walk, falling silent so abruptly that John looked up to make sure he hadn’t been hurt. But Rodney had been distracted by the end of the path, which opened onto a wide beach.

“Yeah,” said John. “This is the surprise.”

“The beach?” Rodney repeated. “It’s… it’s pretty, don’t get me wrong, but I burn very easily and—”

“You can stay in the shade,” the colonel promised. He took Rodney’s elbow, pulling him forward. “C’mon, sit.”

With a glare, Rodney plopped down onto the sand, in the shadow of a tree with large flat leaves. “Now what?”

“Now…” said John, “We’re on an alien planet. We haven’t had much time to really think about that, since we came to Atlantis. But now we do, so I wanted to give us time to forget about work and think about the fact that we’re on an _alien planet_.”

“We were on an alien planet before we came to this one,” Rodney argued.

“Just focus, McKay.”

“All right, all right… what’s so special about this place, then?”

“The sand,” said John. “Did you know that even on Earth, the sand from every single beach is different? They’re all silicates, but the minerals are all unique. Maybe there’s stuff here that doesn’t even exist on Earth.”

“Huh,” said Rodney. He picked up a handful of sand and let it fall through his fingers. “You know, usually I ignore the geologists’ reports, but it’s kind of sexy when you say it.”

John snorted. “I’m going to remember you said that.”

“Please, like you’re not playing solitaire during those meetings.” Rodney nudged him. “What else?”

“The sky’s more purple here,” John told him. “It turns even more purple at sunset, like grape-purple. This planet has two moons – you can kinda see one now, even in daylight – but the other one, the smaller one, has some kind of metallic ore on it, it sparkles at night.” 

“I…” Rodney scooped another handful of sand, this time dropping it from palm to palm. “That would be something to see.”

“I was planning on it,” said John. He pointed farther down the beach, where several standard-issue containers stood at the base of a tree, then leaned in closer, tipping Rodney’s hand so the sand fell back to the beach. “We can be the first people to have sex on this planet in ten thousand years.”

“Then I hope you brought a sleeping bag, Colonel Seduction, because I am _not_ having sex on this beach.”

John laughed and kissed him. “Love you,” he murmured.

“Me, too,” said Rodney. “And… thank you, for this. You’re right, this planet is pretty cool. And we don’t take enough time to just enjoy things.”

“Like, maybe, Canadian beer and Swiss chocolate?” John asked.

This time, Rodney kissed him and didn’t let go, pulling them backwards onto the sand – until John’s hands started sliding under his t-shirt.

“Hey,” he said. “I was serious about that sleeping bag.”

“Okay,” said John, pulling away with one last kiss. “But how do you feel about skinny dipping?”

“But I might be persuaded,” Rodney said.

John grinned. “Good. Because I didn’t bring us any swimsuits.”

“A little presumptuous, colonel?”

“I prefer ‘hopeful’,” said John, and leaned in for another kiss.

THE END


End file.
